The Forest Between
by TheScreamingViking
Summary: In a black forest, Shepard sat down. Takes place partly after N7SOLDIER.


Shepard sat on a park bench.

Black trees stretched away from her in every direction. Birch maybe? But with inkier trunks. She didn't know anything about trees. The bench stood alone in a small clearing.

Stars twinkled overhead, as vibrant as looking through Normandy's viewports. No moon, no clouds.

It was so quiet. Her breathing the only sound.

She stretched her legs out in front of her. The ground was white and splotchy like snow, but the air was warm. Comfortable. And it was quite possibly the most comfortable bench she'd ever sat on too. Damn. When had she last sat down at all?

"You're early," a voice said.

Shepard sighed and leaned back. She felt more than saw the white and pink armour. A figure leaning against the back of the bench.

"Feels overdue," she said. "I skipped out often enough."

The figure didn't say anything. She tipped her head back and looked at the stars. Impossible stars. Too close and all in the wrong places. She got the weirdest feeling that none of them would ever move either. This was it.

She hung her head. "I'm sorry, Ash."

"I'm not. It was a good way to go." Ashley crossed her arms and looked sidelong at her. "Better than what you got, Skipper."

Shepard smiled lopsided. "I wasn't even holding a gun." She studied the trees for a long moment. It was misty between them. Who knew if they ever ended?

"They gave you the silver dagger for it, you know. The Salarians," she said into the silence.

"Huh."

"It mattered more at the time."

Ashley snorted a laugh. A comfortable silence sat between them. Not a breath of wind. Just… peace. Shepard smiled.

"You know you're going to have to go back."

Her smile dropped. "I don't want to." She leaned forward on her elbows. "I made my mistakes. I learned, I grew. I made a difference."

Ashley hummed.

It felt like her lungs were sore. She rubbed a hand over her chest but the feeling skittered away. Damn. And she'd just sat down. She turned her head sideways a little. More pink armour. Ash looked comfortable, leaning against the bench like she never had and never would be anywhere else.

Shepard rasped in a breath. "You still into Tennyson?"

Ashley smiled and tipped her head back. "'_Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them, volleyed and thundered,_'" she quoted, looking up at the stars. _"Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell, Rode the six hundred_."

Shepard sniffled. Fancy that. You could cry in the afterlife.

The poem wrapped around her. Filled the quiet air with texture that slowly receded back into the peace.

"…_while horse and hero fell. They that had fought so well, Came through the jaws of Death, Back from the mouth of hell, All that was left of them, Left of six hundred."_

She rubbed tears out of her eyes. "Save my seat, alright? This bench is mine." She looked fully at Ashley, blinking through the damp blurriness. "I don't want to come back and find some punk corporal sitting here quoting Byron at you."

Ash scoffed. "_Byron_."

Shepard managed a laughed, wet and messy. She leaned back. The stars were so bright. So beautiful.

"Good luck out there, Shepard. Stay on your toes."

"Thanks for sitting with me, Ash."

Blinding light shone in her eyes and tearing metal screamed. She rolled herself off the Cerberus gurney, fists already swinging.

* * *

She dreamed of the forest. It was busier now. She wandered through the trees, catching only the barest sight of silhouettes in the mist. Thane. Mordin. Legion. People she didn't know. Voices whispered in the snow. Each time her eyes opened again in the Normandy's captain's quarters.

Once she found the bench again. After turning on the Crucible, tree trunks silhouetted against an orange glow.

Ash was sitting this time. Her legs folded on the seat and a book in her lap. She greeted Shepard with a wave.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm saving your spot." She turned a page and smiled up at her. "Don't be in such a rush."

* * *

She dreamed on the edges of the crater Midgar had become.

The trees were quiet again. She wandered the drifting paths. The orange was gone. Just black and white again. Tree trunks disappearing into the mist. No more silhouette's whispering in the distance. It felt peaceful. Still. She breathed in deeply. Stars twinkled.

She found the clearing. The bench. Pink and white. Red and black.

She blinked. "You're in my seat."

Genesis lifted an eyebrow. "You don't need it yet."

"Sorry, Skipper." Ashley said, still sitting with her book, her ankles crossed in front of her.

Shepard smiled a battered old smile. She felt tired. Not as bad as last time though.

"It's been a while," she said.

"Has it?" Ashley said.

"Feels like it."

"_To be or not to be_," Genesis said, leaning an elbow on the back of the bench. "Isn't that how it goes?"

Shepard smiled at him too. "About time you branched out."

"Even a poem with no ending must come to a close," he said. His eyes rose to the stars, wistful in a way that she felt down to the very core of her. He looked healthy. Glossy hair and sparkling eyes. No bags under his eyes.

"One day…" Shepard started. It was so quiet here. No hubbub to hide in. "One day, I'll have an apology for you. Not yet."

Genesis nodded back. "I know the feeling." The ghost of a knowing smile lingered at his lips.

She looked at the bench. There was room for three.

"Scoot over?"

Ash shook her head. "No can do, Shep. Only residents get to sit."

She sighed aloud. The two of them looked comfortable. But then, they were both done. Somewhere out there the Normandy was days away from touching down on Gaia. Somewhere out there Sephiroth was sleeping in her arms. "I think… I'm alright with that."

"Good." Genesis tossed his hair. "I just got comfortable."

"So did I." She smiled. She didn't have time for sitting.

He turned from her and looked blatantly over Ashley's shoulder.

"Tell me more about these Psalms. One hundred and fifty chapters?"

"Mm-hm." Ashley looked to the stars. "_Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me._"

Shepard closed her eyes with a sigh. "I should go."

"Yeah, you should."

She woke up. The sun was rising.


End file.
